It’s crazy to say that a year ago I was a cast member at Walt Disney World. I was making magic in Frontierland and because I was there during the fall, I experienced so many festive things. Halloween in Florida starts in September because Disney has Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Parties going on while Universal Studios has Halloween Horror Nights. I was lucky to experience both on and off the clock. This is the life of a cast member during “spooky season.”
My first day working in Magic Kingdom, I worked the night of a halloween party. The park during the day is typically filled with stereotypical families with matching vacation shirts and running shoes. By the time six o’clock hit the park was flooded with families in costumes from every Disney movie or show you can think of. I saw Peter Pan and Wendy grabbing churros while Hercules and Meg were in line at Splash Mountain . There were so many costumes that I could literally go on at how creative and fun it was seeing guests dress up. At most rides, they had candy bins for people to trick-or-treat and there were also special food items sold like Constance’s “I Do” Wedding Cake based on the bride from The Haunted Mansion.
When it was nine o’clock, everyone would get ready for the parade in which the first character to come out was the headless horseman. The spooky Disney music cues and the parade starts! First it was mainly fur characters coming out in their Halloween costumes like Winnie the Pooh dressed up as a bumble bee and Pluto as a lion. Then, the floats would come out as well as some of the infamous characters from films like Wreck-It-Ralph, Toy Story and The Incredibles. Of course the Disney princesses would make their appearance to show everyone who the real stars of the parade were. Finally, the villains would end the parade and my favorite had to be seeing Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Evil Queen with her iconic magic mirror from Snow White. This would happen again at eleven o’clock and my excitement would just disperse again. To end the night, the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus would make a musical appearance at Cinderella’s castle.
Off the clock, I was a frequent fear pass holder at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. I literally begged my parents for the pass because it was two months worth of haunted houses and a different spooky vibe that wasn’t as child friendly. If I got off work early or had the day off, my roommates and I would go to Horror Nights, visit all the houses and determine from there which ones we would repeat. We’d also go on the rides and explore Diagon Alley. The houses that were by far the best featured in last year’s Horror Nights were: Stranger Things, Universal Monsters, Ghost Busters and Us. There were other horrific haunted houses as well, but not as popular as the ones mentioned. They also had special food items sold like pizza fries which tasted like heaven.
Being a cast member during the fall was probably the best experience I ever had because I got to do festive things at another level compared to what I’ve always done in my hometown. Due to the pandemic happening, Halloween is going to be a little different and not as magical or horrific as it was last year. Disney World and Universal cancelled their Halloween special events due to COVID-19, but still have their parades and two haunted houses offered to guests that are at the parks right now. Although Halloween isn’t the same this year, it is still an elite holiday because fall is the best season of the year.